Published: Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Anti-union vote could lure a second 787 line south
Machinists at the Boeing Co.’s newly acquired South Carolina facility will vote on Sept. 10 whether to continue to be represented by the union. Boeing recently bought the Charleston facility of its 787 partner Vought Aircraft Industries. Washington industry and community leaders fear the company may opt to put a second 787 line in Charleston rather than Everett. Boeing officials have complained about labor stoppages by Machinists in the Puget Sound region. If Machinists in South Carolina vote the union out, some industry observers believe it would clear the path for Boeing to set up the second line there.
U.S. workers do more in fewer hours
Productivity surged in the spring by the largest amount in almost six years while labor costs plunged at the fastest pace in nine years. The results point to a recession losing steam, but they do not bode well for the unemployed or those forced to work shorter weeks who were hoping for more hours. The Labor Department said Tuesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, rose at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the April-June quarter, while unit labor costs dropped 5.8 percent. Both results were greater than economists expected. Productivity can help boost living standards because it means companies can pay their workers more, with those wage increases financed by rising output. However, in this recession, companies have been using their productivity gains from layoffs not to hire again but to bolster their profits.
Google search reorders results
Google has lifted the lid on a new version of its search engine, allowing users to look at the results it will generate. The new engine, available at a separate address, looks the same as the current one but ranks results differently, which could affect businesses who rely on Google results to drive traffic. In a blog posting late Monday, Google Inc. says the new engine, code-named “Caffeine,” will be faster and more accurate. The public testing of the new engine comes two weeks after Microsoft Corp. struck a deal to replace Yahoo’s search engine with its own product, Bing.
Boeing settles overbilling case
The Boeing Co. has agreed to pay $2 million to the Justice Department to settle a whistle-blower’s previously sealed claims that the company overbilled the government for work done at a plant in San Antonio, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The government joined in a 2006 lawsuit filed by former Boeing employee Edward Quintana, who claimed Boeing manipulated records to show others besides him had been maintaining Air Force KC-135 tankers when they had not, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The lawsuit was kept secret while the Justice Department investigated the whistleblower’s claims.
From Herald news services
U.S. workers do more in fewer hours
Productivity surged in the spring by the largest amount in almost six years while labor costs plunged at the fastest pace in nine years. The results point to a recession losing steam, but they do not bode well for the unemployed or those forced to work shorter weeks who were hoping for more hours. The Labor Department said Tuesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, rose at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the April-June quarter, while unit labor costs dropped 5.8 percent. Both results were greater than economists expected. Productivity can help boost living standards because it means companies can pay their workers more, with those wage increases financed by rising output. However, in this recession, companies have been using their productivity gains from layoffs not to hire again but to bolster their profits.
Google search reorders results
Google has lifted the lid on a new version of its search engine, allowing users to look at the results it will generate. The new engine, available at a separate address, looks the same as the current one but ranks results differently, which could affect businesses who rely on Google results to drive traffic. In a blog posting late Monday, Google Inc. says the new engine, code-named “Caffeine,” will be faster and more accurate. The public testing of the new engine comes two weeks after Microsoft Corp. struck a deal to replace Yahoo’s search engine with its own product, Bing.
Boeing settles overbilling case
The Boeing Co. has agreed to pay $2 million to the Justice Department to settle a whistle-blower’s previously sealed claims that the company overbilled the government for work done at a plant in San Antonio, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The government joined in a 2006 lawsuit filed by former Boeing employee Edward Quintana, who claimed Boeing manipulated records to show others besides him had been maintaining Air Force KC-135 tankers when they had not, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The lawsuit was kept secret while the Justice Department investigated the whistleblower’s claims.
From Herald news services
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